


Moonlight

by AlNiCa



Series: Starlight [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adoption, M/M, allura is alive and well in this one, experiencing the joys of parenting, i love luna with my whole heart, not even close to canon compliant, space dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 03:23:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17216075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlNiCa/pseuds/AlNiCa
Summary: “Hey, baby, what is it?”“What if...what if she’s like me?”“What do you mean?”“Like, what if she’s sensitive to things? I was able to hear Blue from miles away and I didn’t even know what it was. What if...Shiro what if...”____The one where they discover parenting is harder than it looks.





	Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> I recommend reading the first two, but also don't let me tell you how to live your life.

Their daughter, which was still weird to say, was absolutely wonderful. She was 35 inches tall and a force to be reckoned with. Half the base couldn’t believe that she wasn’t actually their kid and that she was adopted.

She looked so much like Keith, with the long black hair and blinding smile, but acted so much like Shiro with how she smiled and said hello to everyone and seemingly had no worries about any stranger that she came into contact with (yes, Shiro almost got kidnapped a lot as a kid). She basically ate anything they would give her, she loved bath time, she was gentle with the wolf like her parents told her to be, she got super excited whenever grandma was coming over, and always helped one of her poppas pick up her toys. Truly, the best child this world has ever created.

Except when it came to bedtime. 

It’s been at least 2 months since they got back with Luna and she’s still having trouble sleeping. At this point, it seemed like they’ve tried everything. It’s been stressing them out because small children need their sleep, and they can barely get her to sleep more than 1 hour at a time at night. 

Keith had read every parenting help book he could get his hands on, and Shiro had been begging any parent he could find to help Luna sleep. So far, unsuccessful. 

At the end of the day, not only are her sleeping issues affecting her health (which is the most important part), but they’re also impacting Shiro and Keith’s only chance at some alone time (“alone time”).

For instance, they were just getting down to business that night when they heard a shrill cry come from the other room. 

“Poppa!! Poppa!!”

“Shh, maybe she’ll go back to sleep.” Keith whispered as he went back to the bruise he was working into Shiro’s collarbone. 

“POPPA!!”

“She’s not going back to sleep Keith, she’ll just keep crying if we don’t get up.”

Keith sighed from where he was straddling Shiro, “Okay, you go take care of her while I shower and take care of this,” he stated while dramatically pointing to the bulge in his pants. It was 2 am, they were foolish to think they could FINALLY spend some  _ quality _ time together. 

Shiro pouted while getting up, “Fine but when you’re done we’re switching.”

They both got up, paused, turned around to face each other and broke out laughing, finally processing what they just said. Part of it was the situation, another may be from lack of proper sleep. 

It seems they were true parents now.

Shiro stumbled around to find his sweatshirt while he listened to Luna crying from the other room. There have been so little nights where she slept through okay that Shiro could count them on one hand. 

Shiro shuffled into her room and turned up the lights to 20%, just enough so they could see but not enough to blind this late at night.   
“Hey sweetheart, what’s going on?”

“Poppa,” she whispered between little sniffles. She reached up for Shiro with her chubby, grabby hands, so he picked her up and began rocking her in his arms to soothe her. 

“Hmm, we can’t keep doing this, Luna. You’re going to get sick if you don’t start sleeping well. I wish you’d tell me what’s wrong.”

She didn’t respond, as usual, but instead grabbed onto Shiro tighter and buried her face in his hoodie. 

They’d run out of ideas at this point. They’d been to three specialists, two therapists, and even had Colleen check the entire room to see if something could possibly be bothering her that they hadn’t thought of. 

The only nights she slept through were when they had her in their bed, but they only had a queen and couldn’t fit the three of them very well. They considered getting a bigger bed but didn’t want to encourage her sleeping with them every night. They then considered getting  _ her _ a bigger bed, since she did have a bigger space for it in her abnormally long room but realized it would be slightly ridiculous to get a 3 year old that large of a bed.

Colleen and Krolia had tried giving them a bunch of tricks to get her to tire out during the day, but no matter what she ended up crying for them during the night. 

Eventually, she stopped sniffling in his arms but he continued to rock. 

When he was little, he remembers sleeping over his grandfather’s house and the both of them sneaking out onto the roof when his grandma went to sleep to watch the stars. He had trouble sleeping too, after losing his parents, but he came to loved spending time with him and looking at how beautiful the night sky was.

He thought that Luna might like it too, and could possibly help her relax enough to get to sleep.

“Hey Luna, want to go on an adventure?”

She poked her head out enough so she could lock one on eye on him, “benture?”

“Yeah, I think you’ll like it. Come on, let’s get a jacket and hat on your first.”

Shiro was happy Keith had insisted that they get one of the Garrison base townhouses with a balcony. It was mainly so he could sip his coffee soaking in the morning sun, deeply missing the desert sand blowing through his hair, but also so they could enjoy the stars without having to leave their home. 

It was plenty big for Shiro and Luna to layout, but Shiro kept her on his stomach so he could use her arm to point out all the stars and constellations. She ended up giggling trying to pronounce some of the names horrendously, especially Cassiopeia, but Shiro loved seeing her eyes so full of wonder after all of the horrific things that have come from those same bright lights. 

About 20 minutes later, Keith had finally found them outside. He leaned against the door and watched them for a bit before joining them on the ground. Shiro was just finishing telling Luna all about the moon, her namesake, when he got settled. 

“Hey little Luna, feeling better?”

“Stars!”

“Yeah, that’s right. What do you like about them?”

“Sparkly,” she giggled. Of course.

“What about the moon?”

“Big, shiny, pretty,” she said, waving her hands like they would help describe the wonders of the moon better for them. 

“Maybe poppa and I can take you to the moon? We can go in Black?”

“Black take us?” Her eyes lit up, Shiro clearly did not offer this amazing opportunity.

“Of course, we can go this weekend if you want.”

“Yes!!!” She screeched, clapping in excitement. 

“Alright, but only if you try and get some more sleep tonight. We’ll even let you stay with us tonight, but I need at least 4 hours out of you, kid.” Shiro said in a stern a voice as he could muster at this time of night.

“Okay poppa,” she nodded her head, very serious. A deal had been offered, terms agreed to. Time for bed. 

  
  


“I’m sorry Shiro, we just don’t have space suits small enough. We didn’t think toddlers were going to want to go on spacewalks.”

He sighed, “I know Pidge, but is there any way you could get one made for this weekend? Keith planted the idea of going to the moon in Luna’s head and now she won’t stop talking about actually  _ walking _ on the moon. She’s too cute to say no to.”

“Ugh, well, because she  _ is _ my cutest and favorite niece, I’ll see what I could do. But no promises.” 

“She’s your only niece until Lance and Allura have a kid, but thank you, I appreciate it.”

She waved him off, “Yeah yeah, just send me your reports sooner next time.”

He saluted her as he left her office, “Yes, ma’am.”

He laughed at the loud retching sound from her office as he made his way towards where Krolia and Keith were running a training session. They were both feeling uncharacteristically rested that day because of Luna finally sleeping after their time outside. He didn’t quite know what helped, but it was the first full night he’s gotten in a while so he wasn’t going to question it too much. 

He walked in when they were finishing some closing stretches. Keith looked absolutely gorgeous, all sweaty and glistening in his work out gear, which lead to Shiro having to look away because it’s been _ a while _ and he didn’t feel like embarrassing himself in front of cadets. 

Shiro approached them after they dismissed everyone, happy to let Keith know that Pidge was most likely going to be able to pull through for them. 

“That’s great, babe.” Keith leaned up for a quick kiss in greeting, which was an uncommon occurrence in front of people, but he appreciated it as always. Keith must have been feeling as touch starved as he was from the lack of intimacy in the last couple of months. 

“Hey Krolia, how are you?”

“I’m good Shiro, how are you and my grandchild?”

“Keith didn’t tell you? We are all equally exhausted. If you combine the number of hours we sleep you would get one whole functioning human.”

“Except for last night, but she slept with us again,” Keith added as he picked up his bag, getting ready to head out for the day.

“You better take good care of her, a growing kid needs plenty of sleep.

“We know mom, we’re trying. We’re going to see another child specialist next week.”

“Good, she needs to grow strong so I can begin training her.”

Shiro and Keith shared a panicked look between them, “Uhm, mom. She’s barely 3.”

“Yes? She needs to be able to defend herself. Galra or not, no grandchild of mine is going to be defenseless.”

They laughed a bit to themselves as they made their way home. Krolia wasn’t what he expected when he thought of a grandmother, but he had to admit was amazing at the job. 

 

The rest of their week went on as usual. Luna would cry through the night, they would take turns caring for her while the other tried to rest, and then she’d act like nothing was wrong throughout the day. Even her daycare teachers continued to report back that she was a pleasure to have in class and always played well with others. She even excelled in napping. NAPPING. 

When the weekend came and it was time to leave, Shiro was a little worried it was a bad idea when they were both so tired.

“We can’t back out of this, she’s too excited. Just look at her bouncing around in her suit?” Keith argued.

Luna was currently being dressed by Pidge to make sure the suit fits well. She kept babbling on about how her poppas were taking her to the “moob” and how she was going to get some rocks. 

“She’ll be devastated.”

Shiro sighed, “You’re right.” He leaned in to give Keith a quick kiss, “Our first family vacation.” 

“Hmm, I love the sound of that.”

Unlike the plane, Luna had no problem with lift off in Black. She actually seemed to be at peace the moment they stepped inside. They gave her some time to explore since they’d never gotten a chance to take her in here yet. She even ran around the storage area and the cockpit like a madwoman the moment they set her loose. Now she was strapped in with Shiro, babbling away, as Keith guided them towards the outer edges of Earth’s atmosphere.

“How you doing baby?” Shiro asked as he brushed his fingers through the strands that had fallen out of her bun. 

“Black happy.”

“Black’s happy?”

“Yeah, she said.”

“She said? She said something to you?”

“Yeh. Happy. Lub poppas. Lub me.”

Keith whipped around to look at their daughter, then at Shiro. They were both generally thinking the same thing: ‘how the fuck is she talking to Black?’

“Has she been talking to you since we got in her?”

“Yeah. She say hi. Then she purrrrr like Aunt Pid kitty.” 

Shiro and Keith both had the honor being the Black Paladin at one point in their life, they both knew what it felt like to have her talk to them. They knew for certain that no one else had been able to interact with Black, and a three year old  _ definitely _ shouldn’t be able to share that experience. 

“Shiro?”

“I don’t know. That’s definitely not normal. Why don’t we worry about that later, though, we’re almost there.”

Keith looked at Luna quickly before nodding and turning back. Best not to panic when their child was busy happily blowing spit bubbles and giggling in her father's lap. Panic later when they get back to Earth and find Coran and Allura.

The highest points of the lunar base came into view the closer they got. The coalition realized how useful it would be to have a separate base for defense soon after the war finished, and the base was very close to finish but this was Keith and Shiro’s first time getting a chance to visit. 

Keith was cleared entrance and they landed Black in one of the main hangars.

“Alright Luna, we don’t need to put our suits on just yet, but we’re here. You ready?”

“Moob! Moob! Moob!”

“That’s right!”

He took her so Shiro could get the rest of their things. They were planning to stay the night, so they brought a small duffle for the three of them and Luna’s favorite stuffed animal (a black lion, from Uncle Lance, that his mom handmade especially for her). 

They were greeted by one of Shiro’s friends from his time as a student who had somehow survived the war. He was a cargo pilot turned fighter in the wake of so much loss and he’s one of the few people Keith has seen Shiro act like a stereotypical ‘bro’ with. 

“Hey Stephen! Long time no see!” he greeted as he pulled his friend in for a hug. 

“Shiro! Keith! How the hell are you guys? I only got word this morning that y’all were heading up. Welcome to the base!”

As he got closer he noticed the little one in Keith’s arms, “Oh shit, you guys had a kid? What’s this little cuties name?”

“This is Luna, we adopted her a couple of months ago. Luna, this is my friend, Stephen. Want to say hi?”

She poked her head up from where she was drifting off in Keith’s arms, it was nearing her nap time. 

“Hello.”

“Hey kiddo, first time to the moon?” Nod. “Well if you need anything, you let me know, okay?” A smile and a nod. “Great, high five!” It was no surprise that she actually smacked his hand with her little one, Lance constantly went in for one when she was around. 

“Well, come with me and I’ll show you guys to your room. I didn’t know she was coming so I don’t have a smaller bed at the moment, but I can try and figure something out.”

“Oh it’s fine, she can just sleep with us, thanks Stephen.”

They got settled and laid Luna down for a nap before Shiro went off to get something for them for lunch. Their spacewalk was scheduled for 3 pm so they had some time to kill before they could go exploring. It’s actually been a while since Keith’s been in space besides a few missions here and there, so he was almost as excited as his child. 

Shiro came back just as Keith had finished a chapter in the book he picked up from Matt carrying three plates of noodles, vegetables, and some water bottles. 

He leaned in to kiss Keith’s temple quick before explaining he ran into a couple more friends from school and stopped to catch up. 

A short while later when they were finishing up their food Keith remembered what they needed to circle back to.

“Should we be concerned about the whole ‘our daughter is able to talk to the magical Lion flying war machine.’” 

“I’m not sure, maybe we should ask Allura? It definitely seems abnormal, especially since no one else has been able to connect with Black. Like, not even a little bit. But, she’s also  _ our _ kid. Maybe Black knows and wanted her to feel safe or something? I haven’t really been connected to her for years and I can still feel her.”

Keith looked down and started picking at his nail beds instead of responding right away. Anyone else would think he’s just thinking, a bit stressed by the situation, but Shiro knew him well enough to know there was something deeper going on in his head. 

“Hey, baby, what is it?”

“What if...what if she’s like me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, what if she’s sensitive to things? I was able to hear Blue from miles away and I didn’t even know what it was. What if...Shiro what if...”

He got up so he could kneel in front of Keith, since finding out for certain about his...special...abilities, Keith had been worried about using them, especially since he almost lost his life and everyone else’s trying to fight Honerva.

“Hey, we don’t know if humans are capable of that yet. And if they are, we’ll figure it out. It’s okay, she has us and everyone else to help her. We’ll be there to love and support her through anything.”

He took a deep breath, and nodded. Keith had come a long way when it came to expressing his emotions, and even longer with controlling them. 

“We can talk to Allura when we get home?”

“Of course, but for now let’s try and enjoy our family vacation, yeah?”

That got a smile out of him, “Yeah, that’s a good plan.”

 

Three hours later and one hard time trying to get Luna to eat some peas, they were getting set up for their walk. They were planning to be out for a couple of hours, or until Luna decided it was time to go back into the base. 

Keith clicked her helmet into place after he finished going over the rules again. There was no actual way for her to get her helmet off herself, but just in case they stressed the importance of  _ not taking it off _ . 

“Ready Shiro?”

“Ready, baby. Ready Luna?”

“Yes!” 

The feeling of being back in space was more comforting than both Keith and Shiro expected it to be. They’d been in Earth’s gravity for so long, they forgot how good this type of freedom felt. 

“Oop”

Luna fell a bit trying to take off running. She got back up, giggling, completely unfazed, just too excited. 

“How’s it feel?”

“Floatin’ poppa.”

From there they bounced around, Luna picked out way too many rocks she  _ needed _ to bring home with her, and she asked when they could come back. In all, they were so glad they took her. 

Keith and Shiro both enjoyed just being together as a family, not worrying about anyone else but themselves. Getting to experience simple joys in life with their daughter made everything that had happened worth it. 

 

Weeks went by and Luna’s sleeping problems persisted. One night Keith snapped and left their crying child to Shiro to handle. He didn’t know what else to do and he felt like a failure as a parent. He was sitting on his kitchen floor crying while Shiro was letting Luna lay down in their bed. 

He couldn’t understand what he was doing wrong. 

A while later Shiro came out and slid down the counter next to him. “I know.”

“She needs to sleep. I don’t understand! The doctors all said nothing was wrong!”

He let out another sob as Shiro wrapped his arms around him. 

“We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.”

“I don’t want them to take her away from us.”

“They won’t, baby, they won’t.”

“She’s our baby and we can’t help her.”

“Shhh don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. We love her, she knows we love her, they could never take her from us. I know we’ve been busy but I think it’ll be good to call Allura tomorrow, yeah?”

He took a moment to sniff and use Shiro’s sleeve as a tissue, “Yeah, maybe she can give us some answers. Is it bad to help she doesn’t?”

Shiro sighed, not even cringing anymore at one of Keith’s weird habits, “No, but there’s nothing wrong with what you’re capable of. And if Luna is too, then at least she has us, Keith. And Allura, and Coran, and the other species with special abilities. She’s not alone.”

 

The next day, Shiro went on the hunt for Allura. It was probably going to be perceived as dumb since there were no confirmed cases of humans with abilities, but they were running out of options. 

“Shiro? Hey! I haven’t seen you in...weeks?” She said as she got up from her desk to come to greet him with a hug.

“Yeah, weeks. I’m sorry it’s been that long. And I’m sorry about this also but I uh, I have a question and kind of a favor to ask.”

She laughed, “Sure, what is it?”

“Do you think humans can be sensitive to different things? Like, you know how you can feel certain uh, magical things?” He said while wiggling his fingers in the air.

“Yes? Well, we know it’s possible since we have Keith. But his abilities might be abnormal or related to his Galra DNA. Who are you thinking of?”

“Uhm, this is actually going to sound crazy and it could be my lack of sleep, but we think Luna. She...she just, ugh, Black talked to her Allura. And, she has trouble sleeping and I think maybe something could be in her room. Keith had trouble sleeping when my arm was on at night and it could be a huge stretch but what if...what if?”

“Well, I don’t really know a good way to test a 3 year old, but I can certainly do a sweep of her room for anything that might be giving off some extra quintessence and we can work from there.”

“I don’t know if it’ll help, but I think we should give it a shot. Thanks.” Shiro rubbed his hands down his face, this was their last option and he really hoped it would help, “Can you come over tomorrow? Say 3 pm?”

“Of course, and I would also love to see my niece. She needs more Aunt Allura time.”

Shiro laughed, “Of course, I’m sure she’d love that too. Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

Shiro had just gotten Luna into her favorite dress when Allura walked in the door. Every Paladin gave each other keys to their homes in case of emergency, Lance tended to use his set for non-emergencies most of the time. 

“Oh Luna? Where is my little niece?”

“An’ Llura!!”

Shiro had to admit that his daughter sprinting full speed was actually the cutest thing he’s ever seen in his life and he would graciously fight anyone who tried to tell him otherwise (even though Keith thought her making a soap beard was the cutest).

Allura picked her up and spun around, periodically tossing her into the air, “How are you, princess? This is such a pretty dress you have on.”

“Poppa got!”

“Oh, he did? Well, poppa has good taste.” She leaned over to whisper to Shiro, “Which of you is she talking about? She calls both of you poppa, yes?”

Shiro laughed, “Keith. Yeah, we’ve been trying for a while to figure out a different name for one of us. She doesn’t seem to like any of the options we’ve given her. So, for now, we just look to see if she’s directing her eyes at one of us, specifically, or we wing it and just deal with her crying more.”

“Good luck with that. Now, Luna, I am here on a very specific mission.”

That got her attention.

“Today, young paladin, we are here to search your room to see if there’s anything magical messing with your little heed. Will you help me look around?”   


“Yeh!”

The three of them quickly got down to business picked apart Luna’s room. Allura had a way of doing things much quicker, but it was obvious she was milking every second she could get to hang out with her favorite little human. 

It was clear from the moment they settled on Earth that she loved kids because of how she would try and visit the hospitals and orphanages whenever she was able and absolutely LOVED spending time with Lance’s niece and nephew. One day she was going to make an amazing mother.

They were both on their hands and knees crawling around the toys when Allura suddenly bolted from her spot to pick up something on Luna’s dresser. 

“Shiro, is this the rock Shay gave Luna?”

He walked closer to take a look, “Yeah, I think so. She said she’d let Luna come visit her whenever she wanted.”   


“Hold on a tick.”

Shiro waited with Luna leaning on his leg for Allura to do whatever magical search needed on the rock. Luna started giggling when her eyes and hands started to glow, showing that she was in the process of looking.

Not even 30 seconds later she turned back to normal and looked almost relieved, “It seeks the rock has trace elements of crystal in it.”

“Shit.” Shiro sighed and rubbed his hands down his face, “Okay, let's remove it from her room tonight and see if it helps. If so, I guess we have our answer and another family member with special abilities.”

“Well, she might not necessarily have abilities like Keith and I. I’ve known quite a few who are just sensitive to quintessence but have no abilities that accompany it, like Coran. We won’t know anything specific until she’s older, but for now, at least we’d know if she can sense it like her father.”

 

Keith got home late that night, busy arguing with Lance about something unrelated to anything he should be concerned with. He dropped his shoes and hung up his jacket at the door, silently moving through the house in case Shiro and Luna had already head off to bed. 

Instead, he found Shiro reading on the couch with Kosmo resting by his feet. He walked around the back to wrap his arms around his neck and to smush his face in the curve of his neck. 

“Hey baby, long day?” Shiro asked as he reached up to link hands with Keith’s.

“Yeah, nothing important, of course. It seems nothing's really important anymore unless it has to do with little Lune.”

“Hmm, Colleen said that would happen. Speaking of Luna, come here, I need to tell you about Allura’s visit.”

“Oh right, I forgot about that.” He walked around the couch and fell into the arms Shiro opened for him. He missed being on the castle sometimes, he never had to go searching for him or have to face entire days without him.

“What happened?”   


“Well, first of all, Allura also commented on the fact that both of us can’t be poppa,” Keith groaned, “Also, that Balmera rock Shay gave Luna? Has small crystals in it.”

Keith’s head shot up at that. 

“Don’t panic yet, tonight we’re going to test it to see if it helps. I put her to sleep 20 minutes ago, so why don’t you go say goodnight before she actually falls asleep and we can head to bed.”

Keith gave a soft knock on Luna’s door as he entered, “Hey starlight.”

She picked her face up from where it was currently smashed into her pillow, “Poppa?”

“Yeah, hey sweetheart. I’m sorry I didn’t make it home for dinner. Did you have a good day with Aunt Allura?”

“Yeh, we play. Color pitures.”

“Oh did you? You’ll have to show me in the morning. I’ll even make us pancakes. How’s that sound?”

“Luh pancakes poppa!”

He giggled, “Yeah I know you do,” He reached down to kiss her forehead, “Get some sleep, okay? I love you.”

“Lub you poppa.”

He got up and softly shut the door. He would never get tired of hearing either of his favorite humans telling him that they loved him. After having no family for so long, he couldn’t even begin to explain the happiness he felt with how much family he had now.

He shuffled his way into their bedroom to find Shiro already under the covers. Keith didn’t even bother getting pajamas he was so tired, opting to strip, brush his teeth and face, and slipping into bed with just his boxers and tank top on. 

As soon as he got comfortable he felt the familiar weight of Shiro settling around him. 

“I love you. Try not to worry about it.” He whispered in Keith’s ear as he finished snuggling up around him. 

He sighed, “I'll try...I love you, too.”

 

Neither of them remembers falling asleep, but they were both woken up by their alarm clock blaring through the room. Shiro quickly woke up his arm to fling it at the offending noise. It took a long amount of time, between Keith rolling over on to Shiro and them sharing some lazy more kisses, to realize they hadn’t been woken up by Luna once the night before. 

Together they scrambled up and raced out of the room to where Luna was still sleeping like the dead, not even disturbed by their entering. Slowly they backed out into the hall and walked down the stairs to the kitchen.

As soon as they got there Keith turned to into Shiro’s arms and started crying. For what, he wasn’t entirely sure yet, but at least now they had some answers and a happy, sleeping child.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I love babies so much. 
> 
> I left Keith's abilities up to the imagination, but they're definitely there, unlike in the season that shall not be named.
> 
> Also, I definitely remember that small box from the first fic, that'll be brought up next time, I promise.
> 
> Let me know what you think below, or come say hi!  
> Twitter: nax_zela  
> Tumblr: nax-zela  
> Pillowfort: naxzela


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